Cotton shorts suit anyone who wants to feel human again once the temperature climbs past twenty two degrees, and they're particularly good if your legs are the sort that chafe in anything synthetic by lunchtime. If you run cold, or you're the type who's still got a cardigan on in June, you might find them a bit of a non starter, because cotton doesn't trap any warmth at all once the sun goes in.
Getting the fit right matters more than people admit when they're buying shorts online. Go by your hip measurement rather than your usual size, because cotton has a bit of give but not enough to save you if you've bought tight and hoped. The waistband is where most pairs let themselves down, either too loose so they slide about when you walk, or with an elastic that digs in the second you sit on anything that isn't a bench. I bought a pair two summers ago that looked perfect on the hanger and turned into a tourniquet after a sandwich. Check the inseam too, because a couple of centimetres makes the difference between a short that sits nicely and one that disappears somewhere unflattering when you bend to pick something up off the floor.
What they don't get on with is anything fussy up top. A heavily embellished blouse or a structured blazer makes cotton shorts look like you got dressed in a hurry and changed your mind halfway through, because the fabric itself is plain and a bit soft looking, and it wants something equally relaxed alongside it. They also don't do well with proper heels, not because it's a rule anyone enforces, just that the whole point of cotton shorts is ease, and a stiletto undoes that message immediately. A plain top, flat sandals, maybe a denim shirt thrown over if there's a breeze, and you're not fighting the outfit all day.
Where they really earn a place is the stretch of weather from late spring through to the end of summer, on days that are warm but not formal, the sort you spend walking somewhere or sitting outside with a drink that's gone warm because you forgot about it. They're no good in an office that insists on looking sharp, and they're no good the second fewer than about eighteen degrees are involved, cotton just sulks in the cold.
For that narrow, lovely stretch of proper summer, a good pair is hard to beat.
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